Syrian FM calls Arab sanctions ‘economic war’

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem’s remarks at a televised appearance in Damascus on Monday come one day after the Arab League approved sweeping sanctions targeting Syria for its crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising. The U.N. says more than 3,500 people have been killed.

Al-Moallem told reporters that the Arab League and others refuse to believe that there is a foreign conspiracy against Syria.

The sanctions by Syria’s Arab neighbors are expected to squeeze an ailing economy that already is under sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s foreign minister has shown gruesome videos of bloodied and charred corpses during a news conference aimed at bolstering the regime’s contention that armed gangs are behind the country’s violence.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem’s televised appearance in Damascus on Monday comes one day after the Arab League approved sweeping sanctions against Syria for its crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising. The U.N. says more than 3,500 people have been killed.

Al-Moallem told reporters that the Arab League and others refuse to believe that there is a foreign conspiracy targeting Syria.

He says he showed the bloody images for the benefit of members of the Arab League who “still deny the presence of these armed gangs.”